High-ranking DIA official placed on leave after asking questions about a $1 billion airport renovation plan

Chief Financial Officer Stan Koniz said that he is being unfairly targeted after asking about Denver’s airport renovation plan.  Koniz says that he was told to quit or be put on investigatory leave.  He refused to quit and is now on leave, however, the police have also stated that he is not under investigation with them.

Koniz said he was told that he was “insubordinate” to DIA Director of Aviation Kim Day.

Koniz said Day “totally blindsided” him by asking Denver City Council to approve a $160 million contract to design and oversee the renovation.
City council approved the deal.

“These concepts have been floating around but they’ve never been finalized,” Koniz said. “I knew nothing about these projects before she went to city council.”

Koniz questioned the financial sanity of the project.

“We can’t afford that,” Koniz said. “I was basically told to make it happen somehow.”
Koniz said a recent bond issue was tailored to avoid mentioning the renovation plan, as not to spook investors. He said he worried about the prospects for an upcoming bond issue.

To raise the money necessary for the renovations, Koniz said he anticipated increased fees on airlines at DIA, which would then be passed along to customers.

DIA declined to address Koniz’s criticisms of the project.

Koniz should be asking questions about where this billion dollar is going and what the money is going to be used for.  He is the Chief Financial Officer and it is his job to question such things.  He should not be approached and simply be asked or told to just approve it.

The airport cost nearly $5 billion and, even though it is relatively new, questions abound as to why another billion dollars in renovations are needed, especially when the governor is cutting back on funds to keep the state afloat.  If the cuts are necessary, then why was Koniz asked to rubber stamp a billion dollar project?

Colorado citizens are wondering if this has anything to do with the governor’s trip to Japan last year in which DIA plans to have daily flights to Tokyo.  Others have gone back to the conspiracy theory that the world’s elite have plans for DIA and have built something underground.

Whatever the real reason is for the money, it’s still taxpayer money and it should be thoroughly researched where the money is going and why.